Over the weekend, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act into law. It targets not only actions within the state, but nationwide if someone believes they wronged an Illinois resident. He rallied the anti-Second Amendment crowd at an Everytown gathering in Chicago for the statute to ban marketing that someone, somewhere, may determine appeals to children or “militants.”
Basically, any groups who may at some point use a legally purchased weapon illegally.
The law expressly prohibits advertising fitting the absurdly vague description of “intent to appeal to minors.”
This egregious law will clearly work to suppress commercial speech as the weapons industry has no way to determine who could be deemed “affected” by marketing. It could literally be anyone.
And the reach of the law stretches far beyond the Illinois borders. Residents may sue over perceived violations in any of the other 49 states in the Union.
While the law undoubtedly warmed the hearts of anti-gun zealots, it is difficult to imagine it holding up to judicial scrutiny. And before the ink was even dry, the NSSF filed suit to block its enforcement.
The group charged the law is an unconstitutional infringement of both the First and Second Amendments and also violates the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
The complaint noted HB 218 specifically stipulated the “sale, manufacturing, importing or marketing of a firearm-related product” anywhere in the U.S. could run afoul of the law. Even if the marketing complied with all federal and state regulations, it still could be subject to sweeping liability claims in Illinois.
Then the NSSF complaint gets to the meat of the issue. As usual, the gun control crowd places no guilt or liability on those who actually misuse constitutionally protected firearms.
“Although the statute purports to be aimed at preventing firearms from being used in such a way that endangers public safety or health, HB 218 does not regulate the use (or misuse) of firearms. Nor does it impose liability on individuals who misuse firearms to the detriment of themselves or others.”
No blame, no guilt and no liability for the criminals themselves.
The law instead regulates “selling, manufacturing and advertising lawful firearms and related products.” And it does so when the transactions and protected free speech occur outside of state boundaries.
Further, federally licensed members of the industry would be held liable for acts committed by third parties who they have had no interaction with.
Besides the clear infringement on constitutional rights, the NSSF noted that federal law also contradicts the intent of the statute. Two decades ago, several state and local governments attempted to use common-law concepts such as negligence and nuisance to attack the weapons industry.
This was clearly seen for what it was — a broadside assault on Second Amendment rights. In 2005, Congress acted to counter this growing trend by passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) with bipartisan votes.
This expressly prohibited state and local lawmakers from bringing legal actions against lawful manufacturers and sellers of firearms over actions by a third party.
The law goes even further. Attempting to create yet more difficulty for federally licensed firearm dealers, Illinois now demands firearm manufacturers and dealers create intentionally vague “reasonable controls” to prevent dishonesty on criminal background check forms.
This ignores that the industry already works in conjunction with the Department of Justice and ATF to block criminals from lying about their backgrounds.
The NSSF is correct to take legal action against Illinois for this unconstitutional law. It is just one in a lengthy list of misguided actions by the state to strip away Second Amendment rights from law-abiding citizens and should be stopped.
